What's A Moderately Priced Restaurant?

Last night some friends were visiting from out of town and we went to Perilla in the West Village for dinner. Our friends, D & L, watched Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle compete through the show's first season, garnering its first Top Chef title.

The food was one of those Christopher Columbus moments, were you're like wow I am the first person to realize that there is such a thing as tasting every ingredient, as though you've discovered flavor itself. The interior was a nice balance between unfettered and elegant. Unfortunately, we sat in the back near a draft that kept us cold throughout the meal, but I didn't let it "ruin" the meal. Definitely, I would request a booth next time. I ordered the seared sea scallops as an appetizer and the jerk grouper as an entree, and I can still taste it in my mouth as I type these words. It was a great evening.

So suffice it to say, I blew my budget big time for going out. A bottle of wine, apps, entree, dessert, came out to $122 per couple. So while it is not Per Se, it sure as heck aint Sri Pra Phai.

During dinner we were talking about what we considered an expensive meal and a cheap meal. Personally, in New York if I can eat under $20 (which includes tax and tip) then I consider that a cheap meal. An entree above $20 is moderate to me (which is what Perilla's price point is), and a non-steak entree above $30 to me is expensive.

The thing that is hard about a moderately priced restaurant is that the food usually is good so I jack up the bill ordering more than just an entree. I'm not really willing to "try out" a moderate meal, I need to know ahead of time that it comes highly recommended because honestly I just don't roll like that. So once I'm eating good food, it's on. I want to try the apps, the desserts, have a nice sip of wine before I break out in hives, the whole works. So a moderately priced meal becomes, for me, expensive. There are exceptions, of course. Nearby Al di Là has moderately priced food and I am capable of only ordering one dish.

But I guess that when it's all said and done, I don't really know what is moderately priced until the bill comes. Do you?

photo by zzzack via flickr

My Birthday

I hope everybody had a great turkey weekend!

Tommorrow is my birthday, so I probably won't post. Last year I went to Woodbury Common Outlets and had a blast. Of course, it hit my wallet a little hard, and since I just went nuts the other weekend in Northampton I thought I should avoid the urge to shop. So I think I'll have lunch at the MoMA with M, check out the exhibits, maybe go to a movie. While I love parties, I do not like parties that are about me, so I usually do something very low key.

Yesterday I went to Coney Island with M and some friends. It was so nice out, the water was this deep blue and the sky was clear. I get kind of retrospective around my b'day, and this year has been a little hard, to say the least. Nothing like a gorgeous walk along the shore to ease me into my new year. We walked the boardwalk from Coney Island to Brighton Beach and ended up eating in this grand Russian dining hall, Primorski Restaurant. The beef stroganoff was divine, well worth $12. We were there for lunch, so we missed the live music. That could be a very good or bad thing...

I was thinking soup dumplings for dinner tommorrow, any suggestions?

Steak, Carbon Monoxide Well Done

Here's some ewwwww news. Lawmakers are debating the use of carbon monoxide in meat. Why would you put tailpipe exhaust in meat, a reasonable person might ask. Well, to keep it pink, of course. At one point during the hearings, a congressional member presented the meat industry execs with two pieces of equally fresh looking pink beef, one of which happened to be 2 years old thanks to a carbon monoxide injection.

First, full disclosure. I hate vegetables. And fruit. Which pretty much leaves me on the meat and carb diet. Hence my email address :) So yeah, when someone is mucking about with my dinner I get a little upset. If they were putting carbon monoxide in brussel sprouts, I'd be like Good for them. Anyway, I digress. So the beef is injected with carbon monoxide to keep it pink. Meat naturally turns a darker color when it is exposed to oxygen, but consumers buy meat largely based upon appearance. Sure we take a glance at the "best used by" date, but I know I'm looking at the meat itself.

In all likelihood the practice won't be banned, but will probably be labeled accordingly. Which I'm fine with. In the meantime, consumer trepidation has led Harris Teeter, Safeway, Giant, Stop & Shop, and Tyson foods to discontinue the practice. Target, however, simply asked the FDA to label its meat as carbon monoxided. And if that isn't a verb, it is now.

photo by prettywar-stl on flickr.

A Food Blog

Everybody knows that cooking dinner at home is less expensive than eating out. I've recently read a lot of posts on PF blogs that have stomach gurgling recipes, and while I'm no cook, I love to eat. So here's my contribution, courtesy of Mama Juani- The Smitten Kitchen. This mouth drooling food blog has great recipes and beautiful photos. From its site:

"The Smitten Kitchen is 80 square feet of fourth-floor circa-1870 New York City walkup tenement building joy with a skylight on top. It has one counter, a small stove, a pot and pan rack we nabbed from a former apartment, a marginally obsessive spice rack and a grapefruit knife with actual grapefruits on the handle. My favorite things in it are a set of stainless steel measuring cups and spoons, the very first kitchen-related item I ever bought myself to cheer up a blah day, and a husband who picks at things as I chop them."

They even have a handy conversion page that lets you know things like 1 pound onion = 2½ cups sliced or chopped. And best of all, for the month of November it looks like a recipe every day! I never thought of food blogs as a great way to plan meals and shop within a food budget, but I've got my fork ready. Any other favorite food blogs out there?

photo by mirjam via flickr